Prince Rupert to Queen Charlotte City

Man, it's been really easy to lose track of days.

We spent a night in Prince Rupert at Noella and Paul's. Noella took us on a bit of a tour the next day, and then we got on Paul's fishing boat that evening. He offered to take us across to the Queen Charlotte Islands, cause he's heading out there anyway doing some crab testing for the Department of Oceans and Fisheries. So we should be docking in Queen Charlotte City tonight.

The boat's really cool, all decked with a fully stocked kitchen, and a tv and dvd player and a large selection of movies. We've eaten really well, a huge roast one night, a slab of ribs the next. The guys working on the boat need it though, they work hard. Long hours, fairly repetitive work. Bring up the trap, unload it, keep the good crabs, toss away the small ones, the fish, the starfish, rebait the trap, wrap it up, stack it, move on to the next on. They took a bunch of crabs aboard to test them - size, sex, shell hardiness, injuries. I've shot a lot of footage of them working, but didn't get much of a chance to do interviews unfortunately. The engine was too loud and by the time it got shut off, the guys were exhausted.

I spent some time talking with Paul in the cockpit though. He's got some stories to tell about problems with sports fishing - the overfishing, or at least the lack of record keeping. He's been fishing over 40 years and says there's more salmon now than there was back in the hayday. He also has issues with farmed salmon - there's no regulations, no organic farming, and the fish are pumped full of chemicals. Mmm, I think I'll keep a look out for wild salmon next time I'm shopping . . .

Neil's jumped into the life of a fisherman. He's been out back sometimes helping the guys, sometimes just trying to stay out of their way. But he's having fun.

And I've been sitting on the deck, journal in hand, doing some writing, doing more thinking. What I am looking for, where am headed - both physically and metaphysically . . . heh, you think being on a bus gives you time to think, try three days on a boat. At least on the road, the scenery is always changing, here it's just endless water, and far off mountains. It's gorgeous, but maybe I'm just too antsy and worried about not filming enough stuff, I can't really relax and enjoy it and appreciate it. In two months, I'm gonna wish I was back here. Right in this moment. I should enjoy it now.